Christian man tortured and killed by Islamic State militants for refusing to convert to Islam

For more than three weeks, Salem Matti Kourk was holed up in his home to avoid capture by Islamists. Once he ran out of food, he went out to find some but was stopped and beaten to death, his body dumped on a street. For Chaldean Patriarchate, he is "another martyr, a victim of extremist folly." In the capital, a car bomb kills a young Syrian Catholic student.

Baghdad
(AsiaNews)
- Islamic State fighters spills more Christian blood in Iraq as they continue to persecute unarmed
civilians, including children.

Sources within the Chaldean Patriarchate told AsiaNews that
yesterday Sunni fundamentalists tortured
and killed a Christian
man in Bartala, a small predominantly Syriac town in the Niniveh Plains that has
been occupied by Jihadists for the past few weeks. He was part of a small group
who did not flee when the place was overrun.

According
to reports from a witness, the martyr -
as the Patriarchate calls him - was
a man of 43, Salem Matti Kourki. He died yesterday
after being brutally beaten and tortured by terrorists for refusing to convert to Islam.

One of Salem's
relatives said that the victim could not flee with his family when Islamists
entered the town of Bartala on 8 August because he suffered from heart disease.

He was holed up in his home for
more than three weeks, eating and drinking what had been
stockpiled in the house.

Yesterday, after
he ran out of food and water, he went out to find some
food. However, he was stopped at an IS checkpoint
in front of the Church of the Virgin Mary, in
the city centre, and was immediately
arrested. IS fighters tried to convert him by force to
Islam but he refused outright.

The fundamentalists
beat and tortured him causing his death,
then dumped his body in the street, which was found a few hours later by local residents, who
took him and buried him.

A funeral
service will be held on Friday at the Oum El Nour Syriac Orthodox
Church in Ankawa, a Christian suburb of
Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, to honour the memory of the martyr Salem.

Meanwhile, more Christians are dying in Iraq's capital,
Baghdad.

According
to reports from Mgr Pius Qasha Khoury,
from the Syrian Catholic Church of Mansour/Baghdad, one of his parishioners was killed by a car bomb, which exploded in the Bayaa area, at 9
pm yesterday.

The
prelate
explained that the young martyr, Fadi
Nabil Ibrahim Abbush,
was born in 1994
and was in the second stage of college, studying accounting.

In his
community, the young man was known for his good character, commitment and regular
participation - along with his
family - in the activities of the
local church.

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Christian man tortured and killed by Islamic State militants for refusing to convert to Islam Middle East Iraq
For more than three weeks, Salem Matti Kourk was holed up in his home to avoid capture by Islamists. Once he ran out of food, he went out to find some but was stopped and beaten to death, his body dumped on a street. For Chaldean Patriarchate, he is "another martyr, a victim of extremist folly." In the capital, a car bomb kills a young Syrian Catholic student.

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See also

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